By Tom Morris for data.world
In The (near) future of data is linked, Bryon Jacob recalled the dynamics that forced the early web to explode into what it is today, and predicted that, very soon…
Using data will be like browsing the web — because it will be browsing the web.
That post energized a lot of people! They wanted more. So, we expanded the original into a white paper that packs 3x the knowledge. How Linked Data creates data-driven cultures (in business and beyond) answers 3 burning questions:
🔥 Why should companies adopt Linked Data now?
🔥 What does a truly Linked-Data-driven company look like?
🔥 How can you get started?
Here’s an excerpt:
Avi sets his sights on a lucrative government contract that could infuse his autonomous trucking startup, ATNMS Mobility, with enough cash to hire three more engineers and a small sales and marketing team, two things it desperately needs. The proposal is due in 60 days and the company meets or beats every stated requirement except one. The benchmarks for “disengagements” — occasions when human test supervisors have to take back control from the computer — need major improvement.
Isabela, ATNMS Mobility’s head of research, has just finished a project to connect their internal datasets to standard taxonomies so that related data from academic research and government studies can be automatically discovered and considered for use in increasingly sophisticated AI models. Before the company’s Linked Data initiative, this process was done on a purely ad-hoc basis. A colleague would catch a potentially usable insight in one of the journals everyone else in the space also perused, then decide if it was promising enough to justify spending hours — sometimes days — integrating the new data with the company’s datasets.
More often than not, it wasn’t worth it. But now, the accelerated flow of helpful external data enhances the team’s knowledge faster, making its way into production at many times the previous clip. What’s more, some of the most valuable data coming in is from sources not previously on the company’s radar — the relevance of the data itself is a much stronger signal than whether or not it was coming from a journal or data portal on a human-compiled list of relevant sources.
Each iteration of the autonomous trucking software yields fewer disengagements during road tests, and with only 12 days until the proposal deadline, the benchmarks meet the requirements. Avi and his ATNMS Mobility colleagues feel good about their chances, and Isabela starts planning more ways her team can embed Linked Data deeper in the company’s DNA.
Get the full white paper here. And remember: There’s a place for everyone in this Linked Data evolution.
